Monday, February 06, 2006

'I am in a hurry because I must go to the hospital because the injury was so serious that maybe he (Robben) will be there for one week,'--Benitez, in no mood for the press conference, as his heart reached out for poor Robben

'I have just finished a big game, a game that we won and played very well. A game where we scored one of the most beautiful goals in the Premiership this season and the referee didn't allow it. A game that leaves us in the countdown to be champions. A game that gave us the 50th victory in the Premiership in the last one and a half years. A game that out of nine against Liverpool in this period, we lost one. A game that proved we are the best team in the country and so I am happy with all things.'--Mourinho, giving an inspired speech on why he is contented with life at the moment

'Why should I comment on Rafa's words. He can say what he wants but sometimes we say things without thinking, especially after we lose."--Mourinho, ever so empathatic towards fellow colleagues

'When they are defending and the result is not against them, they are fantastic and defend very well. But if you score first against them you know that you have great conditions to do what we did at Anfield.'--The Special One, a self-proclaimed guru on many things in life, offers advice on some random topic

'What kind of professional can you be against another professional if you leave the other player not playing for three games. It is crazy.'--Benitez, on poor Reina not playing for the next 3 games, conveniently forgetting how a certain Jerzy Dudek has not played for 50 games. Talk about favouritism.

'William Gallas was touching Reina but did Reina dive? No!'--Benitez, on a parallel universe where people are expected to crumble onto the floor when when touched

Thursday, February 02, 2006

The last time a local film actually garnered critical acclaim, Cleopatra Wong was still karate chopping up policemen in shorts. Hailing from 21th century Singapore, I was all eager to watch 15. Too eager, on hindsight, as I passed up Broken Flowers and Julie Delpy for it.

Opening sequence with 3 leads playing bow-and arrows in a metaphorical wasteland (Nope! There's no desert in monsoon-ravaged Singapore), a sense of foreboding crept up inside me. A film which purports to capture street life grittiness but opens with some high arty farty concept, is suffering from a clash of ideologies, something akin to getting Jesus and God of Mercy tattooed on your back.

So the movie meanders down this slippery path of pseudo high concept art. We find Ah-bengs, or 'street thugs' in colloquial Hokkien, not in the streets spilling blood, but hanging around in their not-so-spartan HDB flats musing about the vagaries of life and occasionally breaking into colourful song-and-dance. Sounds a lot like my life, thank you.

Granted, there were a few great takes of self-mutilation and drug-smuggling, which was stomach churning even to the hardboiled. But the terrible pacing blunted the scenes and ruined the senses. It was with much gratitude that I survived the extreme tedium, thanks to my fingers on the FAST FORWARD button. Mind you, it was not just a casual fast forward, but a SUPER TURBO FAST FORWARD of 8x.

15 would indeed be a smashing hit as a 15 min long feature. Royston Tan shouldn't have dragged 15 out from the relative comforts of short films to the hazards of full-lengths. A full-length film needs to be sustained by a story, a heartbeat. Witness how blood courses through the veins of Amores Perros, or Cidade de Deus. A concept alone, even if wrapped up in garish lighting and high contrast colours, is simply not enough.

there's always a first to everything. And now, the first gospel rock band that I whole-heartedly embrace. Can't believe myself.

But Jason Pierce's Spiritualized begs the question: aren't Christians supposed to be trippy-happy, like life's a one-way trip to heaven on a helium balloon. And here is Jason Pierce's singing of yearning, frustration, anger and bitterness, encapsulated into a wonderfully-named album Ladies and Gentlemen, We're Floating in Space. Beautifully secular, but once let loose into the airwaves, something sacred happened. The room chills, the furniture resonates, and my heart aches.

Broken Heart by Spiritualized

Though I have a broken heartI’m too busy to be heartbrokenThere’s a lot of things that need to be doneLord I have a broken heart

Though I have a broken dreamI’m too busy to be dreaming of youThere’s a lot of things that I gotta doLord I have a broken dream

And I’m wasted all the timeI’ve gotta drink you right off of my mindI’ve been told that this will heal given timeLord I have a broken heart

And I’m crying all the timeI have to keep it covered up with a smileAnd I’ll keep on moving on for a whileLord I have a broken heart